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book Reviews
Connecting with the community
 Title:
Community and Ministry: An Introduction to Community Development in a
Christian Context
Authors: Paul Ballard and Lesley Husselbee
Publisher: SPCK
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 9780281058006
Click here to purchase this book from the URC Bookshop
This book’s subtitle describes exactly what it delivers. Much of the
material was familiar to me from the first year modules of the
church-related community worker training course. Ballard and Husselbee
do a good job of covering all the bases, while acknowledging that in one
relatively slim volume embracing such a broad topic, much will have to
be left for further reading. In recognition of this fact, they provide
an almost dauntingly large bibliography
Each chapter stands alone as an introduction to a specific area of the
overall task and it is possible to start with any one of the three main
sections. For example, some might prefer to begin by exploring the
theological underpinning of their community involvement, which appears
as the third section of the book. The material is engagingly presented,
with the necessarily fairly dry basic information enlivened by
hypothetical case studies of putting the theory into practice.
These stories set the tone of the book, which is designed to encourage
individuals and congregations to engage in the whole process of
connecting with their local community. The case studies reflect the
patience and long-term commitment required for such work, and describe
some of the possible set-backs, pitfalls and frustrations. I would have
liked some recognition that sometimes a church may reach the conclusion
that increased community engagement is not the right thing for them at
that time. I think it would also have been helpful to include a section
on what to do when things go wrong, and I was surprised to find only
half a page on conflict resolution.
That said, Husselbee and Ballard have produced a very useful
introduction to a complex, challenging and increasingly topical area of
church life.
Alison Micklem is a Church-Related Community Worker based in Liverpool
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